Non-volatile memory is a component of a growing number of portable products. Non-volatile floating gate memory devices can include a gate of metal-oxide semiconductor field effect transistors (MOSFETs). The memory operation of field effect transistors depends on charge storage of the material used to form the active portion of the device. In these floating gate memory devices, the material of the active portion of the device acts as a charge storage element located within the gate oxide of a MOSFET. Injecting charge into the material can lead to tunneling from the channel, which can alter the threshold voltage of the transistor. A typical write/read/erase cycle includes information being written by injecting charge from the channel into the material, reading by measuring the subthreshold current-voltage characteristics, and erasing by removing charge from the particles to the channel. The performance of the non-volatile memory device can depend, in part, on the composition of the active portion of the device.